If you build WordPress websites for a living, this presentation is for you. We go through why you are in business and then steps through the process of handling your project Before, During and After. A great compliment to any developers reference materials.
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Strategy for a successful WordPress project
1. Before, During and After:
Strategy For a Successful
WordPress Project
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2. FOUNDATION:
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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3. When you first get into the web all
you are interested in is about how to
do something then after a while you
start to ask why you are doing it.
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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4. A few years ago, I realized,
it wasn't working.
• Projects were more complex
• Details were forgotten
• It was about the next deal
• Clients became the enemy
• How did we get here?
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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5. On vacation I read,
“Let My People Go Surfing”
- Yvon Chouinard
Patagonia
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6. 1991 Patagonia
• Couldn’t sustain it’s growth
• Had to re-define themselves
• Created a set of core values
• Values became philosophies
• Patagonia was reborn
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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7. I wanted to be part of a business
that believed in what they taught.
That stood for something.
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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8. My Six Founding Principles
1. Quality is number one
2. Always be learning
3. Simple solutions will win
4. Expand naturally
5. Do right
6. Give back
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9. “The people that make the web have
a responsibility to protect the web.”
- Jeffrey Veen, Founder, CEO, Typekit
(In response to the closing of Geocities by yahoo.)
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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10. If you keep having problems with
clients on every project, you're the
problem.
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11. “To protect the web, as builders of
the web, it is our responsibility to
make our clients as successful as
possible.”
If not, what do we show, how do
we learn and how can we grow?
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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13. Sustainability is being self sufficient,
self reliant and enduring the ups and
downs of your business. It’s how
you tell your clients you run your
business.
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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15. BEFORE: Process
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16. “In the beginning, it’s not necessarily
important what your process is, it’s
that you have one.”
- Steve Axthelm
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17. What method do you use?
• Waterfall
• Scrum
• Agile
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18. Waterfall approach with
some tweaks
• The Waterfall method works, because
clients get it. There is precedent for it.
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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19. Process Overview
• Meet / Estimate / Contract
• Kickoff / Mindmap / Schedule
• Wireframes / Site Architecture
• Design Mockups / Key Pages
• Development / Content
• Reviews / Fixes / Launch
Strategy For a WordPress Project
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21. “There are two checks I am happy
to write every month, one is to my
therapist and the other is to my
lawyer”
- Mike Monteiro, Mule Design
(from the famous “fuck you pay me” presentation)
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22. Defining Requirements
• Really listen, interpret
• Talk behaviors, i.e. “it should do this...”
• Watch for red flags
• Leverage existing standards
• Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Develop a scope of work
• It’s okay to walk away
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23. Proposal & Terms
• Price according to features
• Use Freshbooks "Accept" estimate feature
• Contract has EVERYTHING in it!
• Dates depend on features
• 50% deposit, 25% after 30 days, 25% at end
• No work released until paid in full
• Anything changes, work stops
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24. DURING: Discovery
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25. A web developer has to be confident, a
salesman, a psychologist, a counselor,
a marketer, a charlatan, a designer, a
programmer, a researcher, a hacker, a
project manager, cool tempered and a
human.
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26. Mind Map
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27. DURING: Production
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28. Schedule
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29. “Good design is as little
design as possible”
- Dieter Rams, helvetica
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30. Use Metrics
• Take the “guessing” out of your design
• Back up your decisions to clients
• Leverage previous A/B testing results
• Review current or similar sites metrics
• Identify potential bottlenecks to clients
• Address user and business goals first
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31. Wireframes
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32. Design
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33. Content
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34. Revisions
• 5 hours of revisions only
• Two rounds of revisions
• Create list one, do list one
• Create list two, do list two
• Additional revisions require new estimate
and charged $150 / hr
• Test like crazy - Browserstack.com
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35. AFTER: Education
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36. Walkthrough & Education
• Create a formal review
• Reference original goals
• Set time for training, 5 hours
• Note any last minute bugs
• Set a date for launch
• Invoice for final payment
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37. Final Power Tips
• Set up a regular status update schedule
• Warn of blackout period during production
• Projects get weird at 3 months, meet up
• Go live on a Tuesday
• Follow up with your client in a week, really
• If you messed up, fix it
• If they want more, charge for it
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38. When it goes south...
• Call client for call or meeting
• It's better to have a face to face
• Review where things are & what's left
• Provide scenarios for completion
• Come up with a realistic timeline
• Do what you say
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39. Sleep great
• Be elegant
• Be professional
• Be sincere
• Do great work
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40. Thank you!
• For any questions feel free to contact me!
• Wes@CrowdedSites.com
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